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A Homeless Heart, Four Walls & a Roof

A Homeless Heart

It's the rose with creased          petals

as crepe-thin as skin on a         wrist

haunted by a half-moon           scar,


that murmurs with a scent      not to be

ignored. Even if obscure or      bejeweled

by a thick thicket of thorns,    such a rose


intimates itself with every       person

willing to pause in the             passing—

even for just a moment—        long enough


to linger in the headiness        of a

soul drenched in                      suffering.


The fragrance rises like            a crescent

cloud covering Mount             Hood;


an overlay of macramé            forming

a garden landscape under       gallery


glass. Pressed, as it were, to    capture


what cannot be completely    preserved


in the haloing of a homeless   heart.

Sarah E N Kohrs (she/her) is an artist and writer, with over 100 journal publications of her poetry and photography. She is the 2022 Kingdoms in the Wild poetry award recipient for her chapbook, Chameleon Sky. Sarah has a teaching license, endorsed in Latin and Visual Arts, and homeschools, as well as works in her pottery studio, creating clay art to savor. SENK lives in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, kindling hope amidst asperity. http://senkohrs.com.

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